Beautiful Girl
by TayLynn
Summary: The only person who can stop Gabriel from turning to Sylar is Claire, and other's are determined to bring Claire down and create the rise of the serial killer Sylar. Rated T for violence, language.
1. Chapter 1

***I would like to dedicate this story to one of my closest friend, my wifey, the kristen to my hayden... Sharah! **

-Reviews keep me going, so please review if you want me to write the next chapter!

Elle watches from a safe distance away, leaning up against the side of the building watching her next target from across the street. His name was Gabriel Gray, a nerdy watchmaker she was assigned to seduce and ultimately destroy. She was told he was dangerous but all she could see was a blonde girl approach him and even being a good distance away, she could see him fidget and get all nervous before her. She felt relieved in that moment knowing this was going to be _easy_.

She brings a cup of coffee up to her lips, sighing in satisfaction. Virgins were always the easiest to deal with and with this pansy she felt she could finally gain her father's love she's been so desperately wanting.

The blonde stood outside his watch store, holding out an object of what she assumed to be a watch. Gabriel blushed, Elle guessing the young girl complimented him. Either that or he was so damn nervous that he was blushing because he had a petite blonde practically throwing herself at him. She laughed, amused by the whole sight before her. That is until the blonde girl turned and Elle saw the girl's face… Claire Bennet.

Elle spits out her coffee, throwing the cup in the process to the ground. "That bitch!" She screams loud enough for passersby on the busy New York sidewalk to turn and give her a dirty look.

She feels her anger rise and the sparks dance at the end of her fingers as she watches Noah Bennet's adopted little cheerleader mingle with her assignment. And god be damned if she was going to let naïve little Claire ruin the one shot she had at impressing her father.

Claire was only wanting her watch her father gave her to be fixed, she never thought he'd offer to fix it for free. He was a nerdy man and if she had to guess he was somewhere in his early twenty's. His dark eyes looked down at her and he smiles, his face going red from embarrassment. Did she actually embarrass him?

"It won't take me long to fix it." He says smiling which makes Claire smile back up at him. "If you don't mind waiting a minute or two, I can fix it now."

Claire laughs, watching as he slides the watch between his fingers. "Okay, so it's free and you can get it done now? I have a feeling there is a catch."

He feels a little uncomfortable, not realizing her joke. "Oh no, no catch." His face flushes red again when he realizes she's joking. "Come on inside."

He holds his store door open for her and she slides on in past him, her eyes instantly locking on all the clocks. There must have been hundreds of them and they were all ticking at the same time.

"Wow," she says her eyes never leaving the clocks in front of her. "This is amazing."

He was making his way over to his desk but pauses mid stride turning to face her. "Really?"

She turned to face him, seeing his puzzled expression. "Of course. I've never seen so many clocks before in my life."

He smiles, clearly satisfied with her answer before sitting down at his desk. He opens the back of the watch, watching the small parts work the clock. He saw what was wrong within a second fixing it just as quickly. The ticking parts clicked together in a perfect formation and he smiled when the ticking began just right.

He stands up, holding the watch in the air. "All done."

She spun around to face him, surprised. "Seriously?"

He walks towards her, placing the now fixed watch in her palm. "It was nothing major, easy to fix."

She smiled, showing her pearly white teeth. "I can't thank you enough!"

He suddenly felt like a heroic hero for fixing her watch and being the reason for the radiant smile that was plastered on her face. Then he felt his face fluster red and she noticed, giggling.

"You're perfect." She tells him wanting him to feel comfortable around her and not his awkward self. "Bye Gabriel."

He turns to watch her leave, mesmerized by her beauty. He loved the way she had him blushing and the way she complimented him. But as reality set in, he felt disappointed and his happiness soon fading along with it.

He didn't even know her name.

Elle was still waiting across the street when Claire came out of the store with an idiotic grin on her face. Such a fucking kid, she thought watching her disappear among the crowd. Only Claire could get all heated and giddy over a nerd like Gabriel. He wouldn't know what a real woman was until he met her.

Now satisfied that he was alone, Elle jaywalked across the New York street her eyes brightly lit and the electricity pulsating through her petite body as she stood before his store, watching the little fool have the same grin on his face as Claire did. She was beginning to think they were both kids.

Elle slowly creaked open the store door, the bell dinging above it as she stepped inside.

Gabriel turned watching her from his dorky glasses. "Can I help you?"

She shut the door behind her, leaning against it. "Hi, I'm Elle."

He looks away, turning his back to her. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yeah, this damn watch." She reaches into her pocket for the broken damaged watch that she broke on purpose as an excuse to lure him in. "I was told it was unfixable."

"Anything can be fixed, especially watches." He smiles and she feels happy because she's made him smile.

"Oh, thank god!" She says sighing with relief as if she actually cared about a damn watch. This was the worst assignment ever. Gabriel was already boring her.

He walks over to her taking the watch from her and examining it closely. He looks up at her. "What happened? It looks like this was beaten in by a sledge hammer."

My heel, she thought amused. But she looks shock. "It was an old family air loom. My father told me it might be worth something."

"Don't worry, no matter how bad it's damaged I can easily fix it."

"Really? Oh my god, you're a life saver!"

If it had been anyone else besides him, they would have said 'It's just a watch' but this was Gabriel and he liked the fact that this girl cared about watches just as much as he did.

Or so he was led to believe.

"I'll fix it now." He goes back over to his desk and he's surprised to see Elle following him. He gives her a questionable look.

"Can I watch?" She asks sheepishly, smiling in the hopes of persuading him.

It worked.

"Sure." He smiles back, focusing his full attention on the watch.

Elle leans over his shoulder watching him put the pieces together one by one with his quick hands and his mind racing. She questioned her father in that moment, noticing now more than ever that there was nothing unique about this man. He had no ability besides being able to fix watches and bore someone to death. But he was her assignment. Her thoughts or opinion didn't matter when it became to Primatech.

So consumed with her own thoughts, she barely heard Gabriel speak.

"It's fixed."

She looks down at the perfect watch dangling in his grasp. He fixed the shattered to pieces watch within seconds. He really was good.

"Wow." She said feeling a little impressed but pushed it away with the thought of fixing clocks isn't a superpower. "It looks brand new!"

"That was my goal." He grins, leaning back in his chair.

An idea came to her and she blurted it out without even thinking. "Let me make it up to you by dinner."

Gabriel blinked, surprised. A hot blonde had just asked him out.

She loved his startled expression taking the hint to go further. "Please?"

"S-Sure." He stuttered, still in shock. How could he say no?

Elle smiled, pleased. She had him right where she wanted him.

* * *

><p>Claire stood there awkwardly watching as the cheerleaders that were once her friends gave her dirty looks from across the courtyard. Ever since Brody tried to date rape her and her seeking vengeance by hospitalizing him, Jackie and her crew officially drew the line. Claire was no longer one of them, and it didn't help her hanging around Zach who was a social outcast.<p>

But Zach proved to her that he was her true friend in more ways than one, and the kid was waving her over to his vacant table beaming like a fool.

Claire smiled passing Jackie and giving her one hell of a look too. She could feel Jackie's eyes never leave her as she walked to Zach taking a seat right beside him.

He looks up at her, holding the hamburger inches away from his face. "You okay?"

She faked a smile, staring straight ahead. "Never been better."

Zach followed her gaze over to Jackie's table with her evil minions. "They're jealous."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I don't. You just won homecoming queen."

That caught her attention, averting her startled eyes on Zach. "Is that some kind of sick joke?"

"No, I'm serious. Jackie's over there fuming… and glaring." He smirked, amused by all this.

Claire was still shocked and overwhelmed by all this to be smirking and rejoicing like Zach was. "Okay, how the hell did I win? Last time I checked I was as much of a social outcast as you are."

"Majority rules. There are more of us than there are of them." He pointed critically to the popular table. "That's how you won."

Claire looked around at her surroundings, taking it all in. Everyone was watching her, some in envy and some in awe. She had people who liked the outcast Claire Bennet rather than the popular shallow Claire Bennet she used to be.

"It's pretty awesome, huh?" Zach was still smirking acting as if this was the best day of his life when it was actually hers. She had won. She had wiped that evil smirk off Jackie's face and instead it was now plastered on her own face.

Claire Bennet, homecoming queen. The homecoming queen who could never be killed, who could never die. The girl who was about to become the most popular girl at school in a whole new way.

* * *

><p>Elle was deeply satisfied with how things went between her and Gabriel. The food was fantastic and even though it was hard getting him off the topic of watches, she started to doubt this man was capable of anything Angela Petrelli had envisioned. Gabriel was nice and a little weird, but definitely not a serial killer. She had this one in the bag.<p>

Gabriel, on the other hand, wasn't buying Elle's nice girl act. Blondes like her were usually devious and up to no good and even though she was attractive enough, he couldn't get his mind off that other blonde that stopped in… what was her name? Claire?

Elle had given him her phone number, telling him to call her anytime. He knew he wouldn't but Elle thought he would. After all, she was a convincing conniving little agent.

Even though Elle felt full heartedly that she had it all under control, she couldn't help but feel threatened by the Bennet girl. Gabriel looked at her with a gleam of interest but not like he looked at her and she was definitely not used to be second choice. Always first, always number one.

She had to relay the message, warn them on the threat. And who better to tell than Noah Bennet himself?

She dialed his cell, sitting on an Odessa park bench as the hot Texas sun beamed down on her.

Hesitantly, he picked up. "Elle."

She smiled, the amusement playing in her voice. "Noah Bennet, how's the bagging and tagging going? Still harassing specials while you're letting one live under your roof?"

His annoyance seeped in and was clear on her end of the line. "Don't you dare talk about Claire or I won't even hesitate about drowning your ass in water."

She disregarded his threat, moving onto what she's been dying to tell him. "Actually, this is about Claire." He almost hung up until she quickly added, "She met Gabriel."

"What?" His annoyance was now replaced with shock. "When?"

"Just a few days ago. They were real… friendly with each other."

"What the hell?"

"I guess she isn't such a sweet little girl after all." Elle smirked, withholding her laughter.

"Let me deal with this, you just remember to lure him in. I'll worry about Claire." He pauses. "Oh and one more thing Elle, if you go anywhere near Claire I won't hesitate to bring you down myself."

The line clicked dead.

Elle sat there for awhile, contemplating the conversation while her smile grew. If Claire was going to stand in her way, she couldn't promise Noah her safety.

* * *

><p>When Claire got home from school later on that day, she was surprised to see her father waiting for her, calmly sitting on the living room couch. Usually he worked constantly and came home at weird hours.<p>

"Dad!" She exclaimed, dashing across the room to hug him.

Noah smiled, returning the hug and wrapping his long arms around her tiny body. "Claire Bear, how was school?"

She drew back a little, looking up at him. "Fantastic! I am the homecoming queen."

"Wow honey, that's amazing!"

Her smile stretched across her face and Noah couldn't remember her being this happy in weeks. After the Brody incident, Claire had been acting very strange and had recently fell out of her high school clique, the cheerleaders. Not that he minded, he felt those cheerleaders were a bad influence on her and believed she should focus on her ability which he knew from the tapes had manifested.

Noah was suspicious but also happy for Claire. She needed to be happy. Hell, he wanted her to be happy.

"I'm so proud of you." He says hugging her again.

Her smile never falters. "I love you too Dad. When can we go to New York again?"

The question startled him. He would usually take Claire to New York City to see her friend Peter Petrelli but now Gabriel was there… were her motives now focused on seeing him?

"Soon," he lied. "Let's just focus on homecoming, shall we?"

She didn't argue, she actually had homecoming to worry about and a date to find. Despite Zach lying to reassure her that he didn't like her, she knew he did. Zach would jump at any chance to date her but who did Claire ultimately want to take to homecoming? The tall dark and handsome watch maker from New York City.

Like that would happen.

* * *

><p>He was there, hovering over the small blonde who was on the floor withering in pain and fear. Sylar stepped closer until he was only a foot away from her.<p>

"You did this." His voice broke the dead silence in the room, rage and hatred clear in his tone. "You killed her and now I'm going to kill you."

Elle looked up at him trying to weakly crawl away from him. The sparks were dancing on the ends of her fingers and all she wanted to do was electrocute the hell out of him, but she was too weak.

He smiled seeing how helpless she was which gave him deep satisfaction. He laughed, scaring her and making her jump at the sound. He held up one index finger pointing it at her forehead, a grin stretched across his face.

Elle closed her eyes, screaming as pain began to engulf the top of her head and feeling blood pour down the side of her face. The pain became worse and worse until she couldn't feel anything at all. All she could do was scream and the burning sizzle of shockwaves radiating off her body as her power began to go crazy just as she was. He watched her enjoying this so much that he wished he could kill her over and over again. But one was enough for him and her screams took an ounce of the pain that's been building up since Claire's death. She passed out then, the pain too much for her to bare but she was still alive and breathing. Sylar wasn't going to have any of that.

He sliced into her head with the blink of an eye, getting bored already with her. He wanted her to die now. The blood was everywhere covering Elle's blonde hair in a thick sticky mess of it and the blood draining slowly out of her body until eventually she was laying in her own pool of blood.

Seeing her there, dead and gruesomely killed by his own hands, the satisfaction and relief surrounded him. Just as quickly as he felt a sense of peace, it was gone and he sunk to the ground as his legs gave in sobbing as he went.

Even though he killed Claire's murderer, Claire was still dead.

* * *

><p>Angela Petrelli shot up out of bed, her own screams waking her. That dream… her dream… of the future was nothing but a living nightmare that was soon about to come true.<p>

She'd been so sure that to stop Sylar from happening, he needed to find someone to keep him from going evil. She thought Elle was the one to stop him, to keep him from changing. But now, it was Elle who was going to lead him to the dark side of himself waiting to be emerged.

Grabbing the phone by the bed, she quickly dialed Primatech.

Bob picked up after a few rings. He sounded tired and pissed by the lateness of her phone call. "Angela, why are you calling? You do realize it's almost four in the morning, right?"

She wastes no time going straight to the point. "Bob, listen to me carefully. I'm taking Elle off the Gabriel Gray case."

"No way, Elle's the best agent we've got."

"Elle's the most self centered agent we've got." Angela corrected.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means if you want to stop Gabriel from going Sylar on us, you'll keep Elle away. She's the one that makes him turn into a monster."

Bob sighs into the phone, doubting her. "This is crazy. You sound crazy. Go back to sleep."

"Gosh damnit Bob!" She screams into the phone, her own rage surprising her. "I had a dream just now. Elle was the one who made Sylar turn into a monster. You know me, Bob. You know my dreams have never been wrong."

Silence. Which meant he believed her.

"I'll take care of it." He finally says before hanging up.

Angela let out a deep breath, feeling somewhat relieved.

Now she had to prevent Claire's death.


	2. Chapter 2

The instant dread Elle felt when she walked into her father's office was overwhelming at best. She was nervous and terrified. She hated being called into her father's office because it usually always meant she did something wrong. The strong tell tale sign that she had failed him once again. Could she ever get past disappointing the only family member she had left?

Bob swirled his chair around to face her, hands folded together in his lap as he faced his daughter with a face expression diverted of emotion.

"Elle honey, have a seat." His eyes narrowed down on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Elle refused, remaining standing by the door in case she needed a quick getaway. "No, I'd rather stand."

Bob looked at her from behind his circular glasses making Elle even more on edge. "I have some unfortunate news to tell you…"

"I kind of already figured that out."

Bob resumed ignoring her, "You are pulled off the Gabriel Gray case."

Elle just stood there leaning against the wall contemplating what he just said. She was pulled off the Gabriel Gray case? Within seconds, her face masked with fear was now contorted into a fit of rage, the white skin on her face gaining color.

The wall was no longer her comfort of support as she stepped forward stopping dead in her tracks when Bob held up a hand signaling her to stop.

"Why?" She demanded, her blue eyes quickly becoming like daggers as she glared at him. "What did I do wrong?"

"You haven't done anything wrong… yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She spat, her anger never decreasing in the slightest.

"Angela had a dream about you-"

Elle cut him off, "Angela is an old hag who oversteps her boundaries!"

Bob rolled his eyes before resuming where he left off. "She said that you were going to be the one to turn Gabriel into Sylar."

A flash of shock gleamed in her eyes, her mouth gaping open in surprise. "Me? Daddy, you know I'd never do that! That would be going against your word… against the mission… I'd never-"

Bob held up a hand silencing her. "Angela's never been wrong. I trust her."

"You trust her above your own daughter?" Elle said in a small childlike voice, her anger subsiding.

"Yes Elle, I do. You're motives are unclear and unreliable. I love you, I do. But business comes before family, sweetheart." His tone is softer now. "Tell me you understand, please?"

Elle recoils as if she'd been slapped. Being slapped would be less painful than those words. Bob sees the oncoming tears and stands up one hand outstretched towards her. She jumps back, hands in the air.

"Don't come near me!" She screamed making Bob himself take a step back. "I'm done being the good little agent you trained me to be. I'm doing what I want for a change."

Elle turns away rushing out the door leaving Bob standing there in a daze of what had just happened.

He had just lost his agent, his daughter in some way, and all for a good cause.

To stop the rise of Sylar.

* * *

><p>Angela was so busy worried about stopping Sylar from forming that she didn't even realize she had another obstacle to deal with. She had to save her granddaughter Claire also, and stop Elle. To stop Sylar she had to prevent Claire's death and to stop Elle she had to… what? Kill her? Angela didn't have to dream to know Elle was not going to go down without a fight.<p>

She knew Noah Bennet, Claire's adopted father, but he didn't know _her_. That was about to change.

Given her resources, she had had Bennet's number for a long time for occasions like this. She didn't waste any time calling him and was a little surprised he had picked up to an unknown number.

"Hello?" His voice was intimidating and harsh as she imagined it would be for a company man.

"Mr. Bennet, this is Angela Petrelli. I have some news regarding your daughter, Claire Bennet."

It took him a moment to answer and she almost believed he hung up. But his voice was suspicious now from her last statement. "Petrelli? I don't believe I know you."

"Of course you don't, I've kept my identity hidden from you. I'm Claire's grandmother."

That last sentence rendered him speechless.

"Mr. Bennet?"

"Yes." His voice was barely audible. She found it amusing the only way of affecting this man was talking about Claire.

"I presume you heard me."

He didn't waste any time picking back up to his harsh tone, this time more menacing. "If this has anything to do with you taking my Claire Bear away from me…"

Angela cut him off before he could finish. "Don't be silly. I'm not capable of taking care of Claire and neither is my son." She swore she could hear him sigh in relief. "The purpose of this call is to warn you."

"Warn me?"

"Yes." She paused before saying something that would surely render him speechless again. "Like Claire, I have an ability too… seeing the future in my dreams."

"Claire doesn't have an ability." He quickly lied. Even if she was her grandmother, the more people who knew about Claire's ability, the more dangerous it would be for Claire.

"I know for a fact she does. Like her father, like her mother, an inherited trait."

Noah's voice was panicked. "You can't tell anyone about her ability…"

"That was never my intention, Noah."

"Then what?"

Angela paused, memorizing the dream she had that seemed so real that she found herself clutching her chest where her heart was. There was no easy way to say it. "I need you to protect Claire, keep her safe. I believe she's in danger."

Noah found this phone call with Claire's grandmother to be an unpleasant one. His worries for Claire increased with each word she said, now it was heightened to a fear clenching dread. "What kind of danger?"

"Let me deal with that, you protect Claire."

"But she's my daughter!" He yelled, losing patience.

A silent pause then soft whispering words. "Goodbye Noah."

The line clicked dead leaving Noah standing there scared for Claire's safety.

* * *

><p>Claire stood out in front of Gray Time Pieces store, hand hovering over the doorknob. Was she being too forward coming to see him again? Granted, she did fly all the way out here, it'd be stupid to avoid the person she came so far to see.<p>

Through the glass windows, Claire could see Gabriel behind his desk focused solely on a watch in his hand. She usually never liked the dorky guys, or even went after older guys, but something about Gabriel drew her in. He was mature, nice… maybe too nice, and insanely good looking with his dark eyes and dark hair with his tall lanky body. He wasn't just some high school guy who wanted only one thing and didn't care how far to go to get it. He was insecure even and a lack of ego, a guy who had never been given a second glance.

Not until now.

Emotions on overdrive, Claire held in a breath and swung open the door. The bell above the door rang, and Gabriel's head instantly shot up eyes resting on her.

He seemed genuinely surprised she was there, but the shock quickly subsided and was placed by overwhelming joy. The smile plastered on his face left one on hers too.

Gabriel was beaming. "You!" his excitement faltered as he realized he didn't know her name. "Your…"

Claire held back a laugh as his face was turning red with embarrassment. "It's Claire."

Gabriel wasted no time striding over to her, hand outstretched. "Such a beautiful name." He stopped, hand still outstretched, but now feeling even more embarrassed for what he had just said. "I… I'm… Gabe… Gabriel."

She couldn't stop smiling. He complimented her, got embarrassed over it, then stuttered his own name because of it. Surely this turned off almost every girl, but not her. She found it absolutely adorable.

Her hand connected with his and she shook it, finding comfort with her small hand connected with his larger one that provided warmth to her naturally cold skin. "It's nice to officially meet you Gabriel."

He stood there, eyes glued to her undying beauty and never wanting to let go of her hand. It let him know this was real… _she_ was real.

"Broken watch again?" He broke the silence, hoping she didn't know him full out gawking over her.

She did.

"Oh no, I was in the city so I decided to drop by…. Make acquaintances with a watch maker so I can be fully covered in case I have a watch emergency again." She was trying to find an excuse as to why she showed up on his doorstep, but Gabriel didn't seem to mind. Actually, he seemed thrilled.

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad you came." His smile was radiating. "Please, stay for awhile. Can I get you anything? I have a mini fridge in the back."

"Water would be great, thanks."

He turned on his heels and rushed out of the room quickly, afraid of leaving her alone for just a second as if she might disappear on him. Within seconds, he came flying back into the room hand outstretched offering her a glass of water.

She takes it, smiling. "Thank you."

He stood there watching her drink out of the bottled water and trying to contemplate his next move. Her eyes never left him either and his gaze darted to the floor as she caught him staring.

Quickly he decided to divert the attention off of his obvious staring problems, hesitating slightly as her eyes remained on him, waiting.

"Listen, uh, Claire…" He stopped, nerves on overdrive as he realized just what he was about to do. "If you're not busy, would you like to grab some dinner… with me?" He put on a weak cheesy smile trying to hide his insecurities. He'd just asked a gorgeous blonde to dinner, something he never thought he'd do let alone be in the position to ask.

Claire stood there, registering his words in her mind for a second. Did he seriously just ask her out? If she wasn't in his presence she was sure she'd be twirling around the room squealing with excitement. But she had to act cool, not like some innocent little girl in High School… which she was.

Claire smiled which let Gabriel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Of course, I am starving."

He sighed, overly relieved and now overwhelmed with joy. She had said yes. "Great!" He exclaimed sounding way too chipper making Claire laugh. He recovered himself, lowering his voice to sound moderately normal and less so enthusiastic. "I mean cool, where would you like to go?"

"I know this really cool Chinese restaurant my dad always takes me to."

"I love Chinese."

"Really?"

"Of course." He brushes past her, hurrying off to get his coat before rushing back to her side. He holds out his arm to her and Claire doesn't hesitate as she takes it. Her fingers wrap delicately around his arm, squeezing it lightly as he lead her out the door.


End file.
